Heart Smart Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies were winners in an old contest held by Cooking Light magazine. Finalists in the contest included Mexican Shortbread and Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies but the Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies were named the best.
Small Batch to the Rescue!
I had all the ingredients on hand, so I made a quick half-batch yesterday to share with my friend Jennie. Upon taking them out of the oven, I decided not to share them with Jennie because I thought they might taste too healthy. Plus, they needed some time to set, since they were kind of gooey and warm – the chocolate chunks melted into the cookie.
After they’d set, they were pretty good and I wished I had shared them. Then again, I should probably wait until I have actual cherries since that’s what the winning recipe calls for and the winner used gourmet dried cherries from Maine. I had to make mine with dried cranberries. Either way, they were a good cookie with some nutrients here and there.
Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies -- Small Batch
⅓ cup flour, use a mixture of white whole wheat and all-purpose (42 grams total)
¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42 grams)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (75 grams)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (28 grams)
½ cup dried cherries (or cranberries)
1 ½ ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (42 grams)
¼ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flours, oats, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix well.
Microwave the butter for about a minute (or until melted) in a large microwave-safe liquid measuring cup. Stir the sugar into the butter and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Add sugar mixture and vanilla to flour mixture and stir one or two strokes; add egg and stir until blended. Stir in cherries and nuts. Make sure batter isn’t too warm, then stir in chocolate. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool on pan 3 minutes or until almost firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.
Makes 15 cookies
ac chickadee
I tried this recipe and it's very good. I agree with Shannon's boyfriend, but this cookie taste every bit as good as a regular cookie.
Shannon
BTW, my boyfriend is not overweight, nor a jerk, but he feels that if you're gonna eat a cookie, you might as well just indulge and go for the full-fat version. I agree sometimes, but also like to cut some calories and increase nutrients where I can.
Shannon
If you didn't already know these were "light", do you think most peole could tell just by tasting them?
What I mean is, do you think my butter-loving boyfriend would enjoy these as much as a regular chocolate chip cookie or would he take a bite and ask why I was serving him health food? 🙂
Sweets at Vicky's
I love the extra chew-chew-chewiness dried cherries give to cookies, almost like a gummy bear sans artificial-ness. 🙂 Actually, I love them more than raisins in my cookies!
Cheryl
They look amazing and sound even better! I couldn't make cookies without nuts either:)
Emily
I read this recipe yesterday at work and thought about baking them! Seriously. They sound good and I love the name. I am surprised there aren't nuts in them though. I wonder if this one won the category? I can't remember. Anyway. They look great.
Bernie
Just made the cookies and they came out fine. This is the perfect size batch for the two of us and they have all those goodies included - chocolate and cherries. The original site has the nutritional info (minus the nuts) which is handy for those of us who keep track. Thanks
Barbara
Looks and sounds like a great cookie! I think the only difference between dried cherries and cranberries is cherries are a little sweeter and a tad larger. I like them both. Think I will use pecans when try this....always think walnuts are bitter.
Katrina
I just made a pretty healthy almost-vegan cookie last night that I'm trying to get posted. Used spelt flour and Stevia in the raw. They are really good. These look good! Oatmeal cookies were on my list to cookies to make with the Stevia. It was not a noticeable aftertaste really at all. But I made the cookies a second time and used turbinado sugar instead of the Stevia and I liked those better. Hmmm?
I'm out of dried fruit (I know, chocolate chips would work great!), and we're a little snowed in again today. Well, I have dried pineapple.